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15 Ways Managers Can Stop Alienating Employees

Top business and career coaches from Forbes Coaches Council offer firsthand insights on leadership development & careers.

As a manager, it is your responsibility to provide inclusiveness with your staff. You need to encourage, grow, and offer guidance when needed.

But oftentimes, well-meaning advice can actually work to alienate employees without your realizing it.

Finding ways to work with the diverse group of employees that you have on staff and the wide range of personalities that they possess can make you a more effective manager. It can eliminate that feeling of not belonging to your staff and allow your employees (new or old) to feel more a part of the team.

Below, 15 members of ForbesCoachesCouncil share some of the more common ways managers might sometimes alienate employees and how they can avoid this.

Members of Forbes Coaches Council share their insight.All images courtesy of Forbes Councils members.

1. Don't Make Assumptions

It is easy to jump in and "help" an employee based on your prior experience as a manager, rather than slowing down to ask probing questions to identify the root cause of the employee's challenge. It is important to clarify in a respectful manner, then ask the employee what type of support would be most valuable to their success. - Maureen Metcalf, Metcalf & Associates, Inc

2. Genuinely Care About Employees

It can come down to one word: caring! Demonstrating that you truly care about your employees' personal and professional well-being is part of what great managers do. If the employees know their manager cares about them as a person, they will walk through fire for them. If they believe the opposite, they will let the manager walk off a cliff. Caring gets to the heart of employee engagement. - Jan Makela, Strength Based Leadership

3. Communicate Openly

Employees feel alienated if they feel like they don't know what is going on in the organization, what the big picture is, or what is happening in their particular division. To avoid this, have regular communications with to your employees as a group so that everyone is on the same page, as well as regular one-on-ones to ensure open and regular communication and enable employees to ask questions and provide feedback. - Monica Thakrar, MTI

4. Never Talk Down To Your People

When the manager starts acting as if they're above the workforce, they're in trouble. A manager must focus on lifting people up and holding them accountable for their actions. The manager must not be above the rules either. They must set the pace and be the leader, even if that means taking responsibility for the actions of others on their team. - Ryan Stewman, Hardcore Closer LLC

Managers live deep in the throes of emerging issues. They can be immersed in something for weeks or months before they are ready to engage employees in it. Yet managers forget their own concerns and objections because they have since resolved them, and too often dismiss employee concerns as trivial because of it. Managers will gain trust by sharing their concerns and how they got addressed. - Maureen Cunningham, Up Until Now Inc.

6. Stop Micromanaging

Managers who micromanage will alienate staff and have a disengaged workforce. Providing sufficient training that builds skill, confidence and motivation is the answer to ensuring staff can do the job independently. Then, delegate and let go of the nitty, gritty details. Supervise by ensuring the outcome is being met as expected, and don't interfere with how it gets done. - Karin Naslund, Naslund Consulting Group Inc.

7. Don't Play Favorites

Playing favorites occurs in sports and business, but favoritism can go way too far in both. My sister managed a McDonald's. I worked there as a teenager. Everyone on staff thought she would treat me better, as a favorite. Brilliantly, she treated me as one of the crew and was even harder on me. It built my work ethic and it built the esprit de corps of her store. Her team loved her for it. So did I. - John M. O'Connor, Career Pro Inc.

8. Acknowledge Their Work

Feeling as though one's contribution is not acknowledged is often the leading reason why an employee will retreat. Managers who recognize that effort spent is not merely an exchange of resources -- it is also the exchange of time and care for a mission that is many times outside of personal purpose -- are better inclined to retain and engage employees. - Indira Jerez, INNERtia Project

9. Walk The Talk

Managers must "walk their talk." It is just like mom always said: "Do as I say, not as I do" does not work. If you have expectations of your employees, you must live up to them as well. This includes expectations for meeting deadlines and getting tasks done but also how we speak to others. Your employees won't trust or respect you if you don't "walk your talk" all the time. - Christine Allen, Ph.D, Insight Business Works

10. Pay Attention

I routinely hear employees complain that their manager isn't attentive in their meetings. Managers, by the sheer responsibility of their job, assume that they're allowed to multi-task in meetings with their direct reports. This habit of not paying attention sends all sorts of negative cues to the direct reports, the worst of them all being a sign of disrespect. - Ali Merchant, Ali Merchant

11. Don't Take The Role Of Parent

Managers who take a paternalistic approach, as though employees are their children who need to be told what to do and are"punished," are likely to alienate and drive people away. It creates an environment that isn't safe for people to learn from mistakes, innovate, or work at their best. Employees need a manager who is supportive, not work versions of "mom" or "dad." - Lisa Downs, Downs Leadership

12. Leverage Strengths

I think the No. 1 thing managers tend to forget is the power of acknowledging their employee strengths. When a manager calls an employee into their office, the employee's first thought is "oh, I must be in trouble." One of the things that alienates employees the most is the rhetorical management they get from their leaders constantly pinpointing or pointing out what they do wrong, yet never addressing the good things they do. - Tim Hagen, Progress Coaching

13. Be A Good Listener

We know now that the No. 1 reason for employees leaving organizations is that they do not like their boss. And usually, it's the fact that managers don't make listening a priority. The manager must realize effective communication and listening skills are a requirement if they are looking to be promoted. Everyone wins when listening is a priority. The results are amazing. - Randy Block, Randy Block

14. Invite Everyone To The Party

Inclusion is key, or as we say at our company, "Invite everyone to the party." People desire to be part of the whole. Inviting some but not all to a meeting, lunch or event creates paranoia. Similarly, asking other employees to do tasks that belong to other employees creates alienation. Communication, transparency, fairness and consistency are strategies avoiding this while enhancing the leader's EQ. - Gina Trimarco, Pivot10 Results

15. Don't Be Sarcastic

Bottom line is that sarcasm hurts. While people often laugh it off as a way to save face, it undermines trust and often leads to a culture of fear. People who are afraid stop taking risks, and so innovation also suffers. The best way to stop this pattern is to nip it in the bud by modeling what direct effective feedback looks like to include the details of how the experience made you feel. - Eugene Dilan, Psy.D., DILAN Consulting Group

Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only, fee-based organization comprised of leading business coaches and career coaches. Find out if you qualify at forbescoachescouncil.com/qualify.